REVIEW: Medeski Martin & Wood @ McDonald (Eugene, OR – 2/25/10)

This was my fourth time seeing the great trio of Medeski Martin & Wood… and the second time as an “evening with,” which tends to work out nicely for a weekday concert. No painful opener to sit through, and less likely a late show time.

We got to the venue only a few minutes before they went on. They came out around 8:20 and started off with one or two from Zaebos, their album from John Zorn‘s Masada Book Two: Book of Angels series. From there, they hopped right into a Medeski-keys-oriented tune and a more exotica piece. Overall, their show last night was definitely more of the MMW groove show, versus a improvisational MMW “messin’ around” kind of show. Sure, at one point illyB pulled out the ducks calls while Chris and John noodled around, but then they ripped right back into the more lyrical pieces.

McDonald had the floor set up with chairs for the evening, which was a shock for me. The crowd started out in chairs, but by the third song, they were moving up the aisles and dancing. When MMW came back out for the second set, it was pretty much a dance party… well, a dance party with a bunch of pesky chairs in the way.

I’ll post the setlist when/if I find it… again, I recognized a couple Zaebos tunes, plus I’m pretty sure they played “Amber Gris,” “Padrecito,” “Amish Pinxtos,” “Reliquary,” “Free Go Lily,” and a few more Radiolarians tracks. Don’t quote me on all of those songs, but it was definitely a Radiolarians-heavy show.

Creative Commons

This blog and concert photos therein are licensed under a Creative Commons License. Available with Attribution for Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative Use.

File Sharing Policy: There are no free mp3 download or FLAC torrents for any albums on this blog (nor will there ever be). On occasion, there are links for songs for free download (legally provided by the artist). If you like music, support the artists. Buy it!!